Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording method.
Description of the Related Art
According to an ink jet recording method, an image can be recorded (formed) on various recording media. Various inks corresponding to purposes, for example, an ink suitable for recording an image of photographic image quality on glossy paper and an ink suitable for recording a document on plain paper, have been proposed to intend better image formation. In recent years, the ink jet recording method has been utilized even in printing of a business document including characters and figures using plain paper as a recording medium, thereby increasing the frequency of its use dramatically. Therefore, as an ink suitable for recording characters and figures on a recording medium such as plain paper, an ink using a self-dispersible pigment as a coloring material increases.
A great number of inks containing the self-dispersible pigment have been proposed to date. For example, there is a proposal for improving the performance of an image recorded on plain paper by using an ink containing a self-dispersible pigment, which can be stably dispersed without using a dispersant, and a specific salt (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-081378). In addition, there is also a proposal for improving an optical density of an image recorded by using an ink containing a self-dispersible pigment to which a functional group high in reactivity to calcium has been bonded on the basis of a calcium index which is an index of reactivity to calcium (Japanese translation of PCT Application Publication No. 2009-515007).